Month: October 2016

At last we have a real Fire button and sprung cover thanks to the generosity of Brian Canfer, ex 85 Engagement Controller at Bawdsey, and the earlier eagle eyes of Peter Parry who ‘salvaged’ it from the clutches of the scrap man when Bloodhound was disbanded – many thanks guys!

Have you got any bits of Bloodhound tucked away? If so you know where it will be cared for and provide spares to keep the LCP serviceable. So please search your lofts etc … any operational software tapes perhaps?

Progress on the LCP cabin refurbishment continues, as it has done for many months this year. While yet more priming and painting took place the main effort was on refurbishing the steel support frame around the base of the LCP cabin. Besides the usual paint removal and corrosion treatment the main challenge was to repair a hole in the support frame. The hole was caused by corrosion after the LCP was left on soft earth for many years, the result of which was that the left hand end of the cabin sank in to the ground and as we know, steel buried in wet soil corrodes. The hole does not affect the structural strength of the frame. Photos show a typical before and after of the repair to the hole. At the end of the day the simulator was given a run and all remains serviceable. Due to the ongoing cabin restoration it has been a few weeks since the simulator was run so it was encouraging to see its reliability is good – compared to the early days of the restoration project.

Away from Cosford a power supply in 2nd Line needed repairing – no output, it was a Farnell G Series 12 volt, 10 amp unit. No attempt to fault find was made as there is no point until all original bead tantalum capacitors have been changed. The four tantalums being changed the power supply was serviceable once more! It is the assumption that electrolytic capacitors are a problem if power supplies are out of use for a long time, not so for the Farnell power supplies, it is the tantalums. Several Farnell power supplies are in use in 2nd Line to run various test set rigs and act as spares for the LCP.

The LCP continues to be serviceable.

Neil and Pete M were refurbishing the support frame while Pete H continued with the painting.

The on-site work remains focused on the restoration and re painting of the LCP cabin. The fittings securing the roof to the cabin sides were painted. The E.C.’s door was stripped of paint by Neil, being careful not to damage the window or its seal. Once that job was completed Neil made a start on the steel base ring (not actually a ring), the condition of the steel ring apart from the corner of the LCP where the corner of the LCP was buried in the ground before recovery. Being mild steel it suffered from being buried!

Away at 2nd Line (Pete’s spare room!) the U/S display monitor was repaired. It was a faulty 74LS221 device on the monitor’s deflection PCB which once replaced confirmed it was the cause of no Vertical Sync. That makes two monitors repaired in the last month.

A day of painting as priming and top coats are applied to the LCP cabin after months of preparation. The left hand end of the LCP cabin is now primed and cable duct surrounds painted. The front of the cabin is now fully primed and awaits a top coat and a top coat was applied to the left hand end of the cabin. The improvement in the external condition of the LCP cabin can only be appreciated when compared to its condition when recovered.

Spot the difference between what our LCP looked like before recovery and now.

Cable connector panels looking good!

Off-site work: The last week has seen one of the display monitors in 2nd Line (Pete Harry’s spare bedroom below).

This report shows the faulty Mitsubishi C-3920 monitor on test. The monitor is connected to a set of CHARGE cards to provide a valid RGB video signal. The laptop on top of the Argus (Argus is not in use) is the host for a USB PicoScope oscilloscope. Other interesting items in the photo include an FT81 monitor and an ME159 Monitor Panel, there will be more on the monitor panel and its use over the coming winter months. At the time of writing a part is awaited that should resolve the problem of a lack of a Vertical Sync on the monitor. 2nd line looks to be a cluttered workshop but it has already achieved the successful repair of another Mitsubishi C-3920, Argus 700 cards, CHARGE Pixel Store among other units and numerous Farnell G Series power supplies.

The simulator was not run up as both Pete H and Pete M were too busy painting!

Three squadron badges adorn the right hand end of the LCP cabin. Namely 25, 41 and 85 squadrons. These being the known squadrons on which our LCP (Ser. No. 1022) was used. If anyone has evidence that 1022 was used on 33, 65 or 112 squadrons then their badges will be added.

For something different I took the opportunity to clean up some T86 items in there, namely M Rack (Range Clamp). The external surfaces of M Rack needed a good clean but the internals are as new.

The defective display console monitor (no Vertical Hold) has been removed from the LCP and is now in 2nd Line. It will be tested with the spare set of CHARGE cards to resolve the problem.

At the same time we are investigating the requirements for converting the video system from RGB (with a specification close to TV PAL standards) to VGA as part of our obsolescence pre-planning. The biggest risk for us are the large Mitsubishi CRT displays; the CRTs are not available anymore.

Last activity of the day was to rub down the left hand side of the LCP cabin ready for repainting on the next Cosford visit.